Last year gamers welcomed some unexpected competition for Bethesda’s Fallout series, and the devs are keen to do more in the future.
Bethesda is known for The Elder Scrolls and Fallout but the latter has been an odd case as of late.
Fallout 4 was a critically-acclaimed success whereas Fallout 76 took years to become the game it intended to be, and now Fallout 5 feels like an impossibility given how long The Elder Scrolls VI is taking.
The most success the series has seen as of late is the Amazon Prime Video TV adaptation, which inspired thousands of gamers, new and old, to return to the wastelands.
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It also incited even more interest in a return to Fallout: New Vegas, whether it be through a remaster or a remake.
As lovely as that is, it doesn't change the fact that a new game is still years off, and yet the Fallout itch was scratched in 2025 through a game set in Cumbria of all places…
A Fallout-Like Game That’s Not Even Trying To Be Fallout
From Rebellion Development last year came Atomfall, an open-zone survival game that quickly drew comparisons to Bethesda’s post-apocalyptic franchise as soon as the reveal trailers dropped.
It completely came out of left-field, though the team at Rebellion took it in stride as they told GAMINGbible last Friday at the BAFTA Game Awards.
“I mean, it's a fantastic honour to be compared with [Fallout]," said Chris Kingsley, co-founder of Rebellion.
Kingsley continued: “Obviously, people were making a judgment just from the launch trailer, and it's just fantastic to be in that place, but we are our own thing, we're our own game.”
For those who aren’t aware, Atomfall is more akin to Stalker than it is to Fallout, with challenging survival gameplay that makes direct combat incredibly risky.
Set in an alternative history, Great Britain, a mass quarantine is put in place in Cumbria following a devastating explosion at Windscale Power Plant. There’s far more going on than a simple reactor meltdown though, and it’s up to the player to not just unravel the mystery but decide the future of the planet at the same time.
What's Next For Atomfall?
Plenty of gamers, including myself, are keen to see more of Atomfall’s world, as it feels like there are plenty of stories left to tell in both continuations and spin-offs.
On that topic, Kingsley said: "There's all sorts of things that we're looking at doing. We can't say anything yet, but we're doing a lot of new stuff.”
Rebellion’s newest announcement is Alien Death Storm, a brand-new IP, Kingsley was quick to confirm, “Is not set in Cumbria.”
When asked about the possibility of an Atomfall TV adaptation, he said: “It's up there with things we'd love to do.”
Despite not intentionally trying to be a Fallout competitor, Atomfall proved to be a surprising rival for Bethesda’s famed franchise.
Hopefully, more is on the way, as if it keeps the aesthetic but expands with a larger open-world, an Atomfall 2 could probably give Fallout 5 a run for its money.
READ MORE: Fallout 5 Gets Surprise Development Update, Bad News if You Ask Me